Painter, Model. A favorite subject of numerous Pre-Raphaelites, she also created a significant body of her own work. Born Marie Euphrosyne Spartali to Greek nobility, wealth, and high position, she was a tall, elegant beauty known together with her cousins Aglaia Coronio and Maria Zambaco as one of the "Three Graces". As a young girl in her trademark black gowns she attracted the attention of numerous artists including painters Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Spencer Stanhope, Edward Burne-Jones, James A. McNeill Whistler, and Ford Maddox Brown, as well as photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Indeed, Stanhope was said to have been moved to tears by her beauty while Rossetti considered her both his most prized and most challenging model. Marie began her own painting studies with Brown around 1864 and over the years produced roughly 170 canvasses covering the usual Pre-Raphaelite themes of attractive ladies and Italian landscapes along with scenes from Shakespeare, Dante, and other classic authors. In 1871, over familial objection, Marie married American journalist William Stillman with whom she was to live in England, Italy, and the United States, becoming the only English Pre-Raphaelite to work in America. At her death her financial circumstances were reduced from those of her childhood, though she was not living in poverty. Today images of Marie as well as paintings created by her are in numerous major galleries and collections.
Painter, Model. A favorite subject of numerous Pre-Raphaelites, she also created a significant body of her own work. Born Marie Euphrosyne Spartali to Greek nobility, wealth, and high position, she was a tall, elegant beauty known together with her cousins Aglaia Coronio and Maria Zambaco as one of the "Three Graces". As a young girl in her trademark black gowns she attracted the attention of numerous artists including painters Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Spencer Stanhope, Edward Burne-Jones, James A. McNeill Whistler, and Ford Maddox Brown, as well as photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Indeed, Stanhope was said to have been moved to tears by her beauty while Rossetti considered her both his most prized and most challenging model. Marie began her own painting studies with Brown around 1864 and over the years produced roughly 170 canvasses covering the usual Pre-Raphaelite themes of attractive ladies and Italian landscapes along with scenes from Shakespeare, Dante, and other classic authors. In 1871, over familial objection, Marie married American journalist William Stillman with whom she was to live in England, Italy, and the United States, becoming the only English Pre-Raphaelite to work in America. At her death her financial circumstances were reduced from those of her childhood, though she was not living in poverty. Today images of Marie as well as paintings created by her are in numerous major galleries and collections.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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